


The Steps to Overcoming

by mxtt216



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: (for now!), Anxiety, Artist Katya, Bubbly Trixie, Budding Love, College AU, F/F, Friendship, Lesbian, One Shot, Roommates, Socially Awkward Katya
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-07
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-04-12 11:11:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19130854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mxtt216/pseuds/mxtt216
Summary: College Roommate AU. Katya and Trixie bond just as the college year draws to a close.





	The Steps to Overcoming

**Author's Note:**

> This is for @Lulufeca, I hope I did your wonderful idea justice!

Katya sighed deeply as she tried desperately to roll the knots out of her shoulders. With each attempt she made at shading the foreground of her latest piece the more she felt her mood drop. Each passing day brought yet another obstacle she felt utterly powerless to tackle and she was starting to consider leaving her course more and more.  
She was just about to finish her second year of three in her creative design degree, and at times she adored her course. Some pieces she created with all her energy and passion, she put her heart and soul into - some, like the intricate nature piece she was currently battling through - drained her. 

She huffed and stood from the dorms living room table, her mind hazy. Caffeine would surely help. 

As she waited for the water to boil she could hear her roomate down the hall, tunelessly singing along to some synth-pop hell Katya would never have  _ dreamed  _ of listening to. They had lived together for almost the whole academic year and Katya knew nothing about this girl aside from her name - and frankly, she didn’t want to.  
Katya was of the opinion that they were total opposites. Trixie was loud, she had friends over. She always seemed to keep in contact with her family, and could be heard blathering to her mother on the phone about all of her days activities well into the night. She seemed smart, she seemed happy. 

Of course, Katya didn’t begrudge her any of those things, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t jealous. 

As she prepared her coffee, Katya heard the door behind her creek open, followed by a small “hi” from the younger girl. This was as much as they would usually interact, a quick hello in passing while one of them, usually Trixie, cooked dinner. Or maybe as Katya was racing around the living area looking for her thick framed black glasses or her keys, that she’d somehow misplaced for the tenth time that day. 

However, it was clear that this time would be different.

“So...” Trixie started, as she toyed with the end of her pink pyjama top sleeve “..when are you moving home for the summer break?”  
Katya was startled by the question, and even turned away from her coffee to double check that Trixie was addressing her and not on the phone to a friend.  She wasn’t.

“Oh um, I..” Katya faltered, her mind racing, she was hardly going to spill her guts to this girl, I mean she knows the staff in the college canteen more than she does Trixie.    
“I don’t know”

“No set plans?” Trixie pried, and Katya shrugged, trying to act as nonchalant as possible about the whole situation. After all they were far from being best friends, they were barely acquaintances really. She felt she should keep it short, light, breezy. 

“Just.. busy really” 

“I think I’ll be moving out on Friday, just so you know”  
Katya wasn’t sure if she should feel relieved or afraid. In some ways she enjoyed the idea of being alone, she always liked her own company but even in the past few months though Trixie and her had rarely spoken, it was still comforting to know that someone else was in the dorms with her. 

She worried for her levels of social interaction during the summer months too. She would resort to speaking to the other students repeating a module or a exam if she had to, but the majority of them are partiers, people she didn’t gel with very well. The others were quiet, like her, or had friends repeating with them. So potential friendships were over before they had even begun.

“Oh wow, moving back to home?” Katya asked, shaking off her miserable thoughts and bringing the cooled coffee to her lips.   
Trixie beamed.    
“Yeah, my Mom has a summer job lined up for me back in Milwaukee”

“Ah lucky. I’ve been trying to find something here but you know” 

Katya shrugged again, running out of topics to speak about with Trixie now. Although she was wondering what brought on the sudden conversation. They left for Christmas without so much as a goodbye and now Trixie is asking about her future? It was puzzling her.

“Is everything okay Katya?” Trixie asked uncharacteristically softly after a minute of silence that was growing somewhat uncomfortable “I know I’m not exactly your best friend, and I’m sure you have someone else you’d rather speak about this with, but I just wanted to ask”  
Katya considered saying everything was fine. She thought about all the possible responses she could give - telling Trixie she was tired, she was upset. she was stressed - all of which were true, but she hadn’t expected to say what she did. 

“I’m really homesick” she admitted in a small voice, willing away the tears she could feel rising in her eyes.    
“I have to repeat one of modules from here, and with the amount of hours I have to put in I wont get much of a chance to go back home. It’s just kinda tough to deal with right now, different than I’d hoped”

Trixie looked at her with a softness she hadn’t expected to see.   
“Wow Katya, that’s really tough, no wonder you seem so stressed” 

There was another moment of silence between them that had the potential to be awkward, but Trixie didn’t let that happen. Instead she sat at the kitchen table and gestured for Katya to do the same.    
“You know Katya, as stressful as things might seem right now, you seem really put together. You’re really smart, and I know we didn’t talk too much but I just wanted to say it to you before I left, that I admire you a lot and I would love to meet up with you in September if you are still around”

Katya smiled a little and slid her cell phone from her pocket.   
“Here, add your number. I think that’s a great idea. It might be nice to get to know each other after all this time”

An opportunity to build a friendship with Trixie.  
Katya wasn’t sure it was plausible, if you’d asked her a half hour ago she would have gone as far as to say she disliked Trixie.  After all they were complete opposites.    
But that didn’t stop the surge of heat she felt rise to her cheeks or the happy feeling she felt build in her chest. 

What was the worst that could happen?  
She’d have her number and delete it? She’d text Trixie and get ignored? Those were situations she was pretty much used to, so it was worth a shot. Especially since Trixie had just said she admired her.

“Now there you go” Trixie handed back Katya’s cell with a small smile “and hey, please do text me, or call - or whatever. Maybe it’s because I’m leaving for a few months, but tonight I got this overwhelming feeling to come and talk to you about all this. Do I sound kinda weird? I’m just saying I’m not doing this just because, you seem cool and-”

“Trixie, you’re spiralling” Katya laughed a little, in good nature.

“Yeah, I knew that. Sorry, can’t help it sometimes. So yeah, maybe we could grab a coffee or something before Friday? If you have time, of course, I know you’re busy”

Katya shook her head.  
“I’m sure I can fit coffee in somewhere in the next few days”

With that Trixie went back to her room, leaving Katya alone at the kitchen table staring down at her phone. What a surprising end to a crappy day. Looking back, maybe overall it wasn’t so crappy after all. Maybe she’d actually made progress in building her first real friendship since high school. 

With a new and refreshed perspective she returned to her artwork, the heaviness from the past few days lifted just that little bit  

**Author's Note:**

> The more I wrote the more I liked this idea a lot, and I am considering continuing this and making it into a multi chapter story. So it's marked complete for now, but there is a definite chance that if there's enough interest and I can pull it together that I'll continue it!  
> Let me know your feedback/some aspects of the story you might be interested in seeing!


End file.
